Ardrossan Winton Rovers Archive
Giantkillers
ECSTATIC Ardrossan Winton Rovers boss Derek Frye saluted his giant killers after putting the disappointment of missing out on promotion firmly behind them by taking their third major scalp inside nine days on Monday night.
Winton stormed into the semi finals of the showpiece Ayrshire Weekly Press Cup with a 1-0 quarter final victory at Kilbirnine Ladeside just 48 hours after defeating Premier Division hosts Lanark United 3-1 to advance to the last eight of the New Coin Automatics West of Scotland cup.
Just seven days earlier they had knocked holders and last season's Premier champions Irvine Meadow out of the Ayrshire Weekly Pres up following a gripping penalty shoot-out.
They missed out on promotion to the Super First Division at the expense of Kilwinning Rangers last Wednesday, going down 1-0 at home to Kello Rovers in their final Stagecoach Ayrshire District League match.
On Saturday Winton bid for a semi final berth in the West of Sotland cup, hosting high flying Premier Division side Arthurlie in a last eight tie.
And as a reward for theire superb efforts the club were giving the players a night off training and treating them to a relaxing meal and jacuzzi at Seamill Hydro in preperation for the big match.
Frye told Sportscene "As far as last Wednesday goes, it was one of those nights, I couldn't have asked much more of my players, they had scored 20 goals in their previous four games and just dried up. I still feel that we have been the best footballing team in the District League. Hopefully we can get promotion next season."
"But I was delighted that they just moved on and focused on the next game. I was delighted with our victories on Saturday and Monday as I had been in the Meadow match when after being destroyed in the first half, created a few chances in the second half and equalised. We are a decent side who have shown we can compete with the Super League teams and hopefully others are starting to sit up and take notice. The win on Saturday was our fifth against a Super League team this season as we defeated Kilbirnie and Largs earlier in the season and that is satifying. Everyone has done very well but I think our more experienced players like Billy Gilmour, Graham Muir and John Gallagher deserve a lot of credit for working so well with the younger guys in the squad."
"Normally we are finished by this time in the season and the boys are joking saying we could end up missing pre-season training if we keep playing! These are the kind of games everyone wants to be involved in, we look forward to Saturday. Arthurlie re a very good side but it's a one off tie and there's always a chance. It would be nice if we could end the season with a trophy but we will see what happens."
Winton vice chairman John Sheehan also saluted the coaching staff and players, he said "Derek Frye and the coaching staff of Derek Cook and Jim Allan have been magnificent and deserve so much credit, it was a great result for us on Saturday as was the win at Meadow and we are playing some fantastic football. Everyone is enjoying watching us and hopefully we can attract a really good crowd for the Arthurlie match on Saturday."
This article has been reproduced by kind permission the editor, Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald.